Chickenpox...?

Barbara Walters has chickenpox? Good grief.

Now according to my "Webster's New World" College Dictionary,
published in 2010, chickenpox is one word. But the TV people have been posting it as 2 words. So who do you believe??? It's no wonder people get confused about what's what...Holy Cow!!!

I guess we need to amend that old adage that says "you can't believe everything you read in the newspaper" to incorporate all media.

As for hearing that Barbara Walters has chickenpox, which I also heard on the news this morning, I was surprised to hear that she got chickenpox instead of shingles. I know the two illnesses are somehow related...

I was surprised too, Anne. But I think they call it shingles in someone who has already had chicken pox...I think the term is "reactivated chicken pox virus". So maybe if she never had chicken pox before, they can still call it chicken pox?

BTW, my Mom had shingles and it was excruciating for her. It's a miserable beast!

Jabber, I just looked up chickenpox, spelling it as one word, and Google changed it to two words. But I prefer to spell it as one word. That's how I've always seen it spelled.

And I just tried again, just out of curiosity, spelling it as one word, and this time it did NOT change it. I think both ways are acceptable now.

Shingles is caused by the same virus as chickenpox; if you've had chickenpox, the virus stays in your body and can flare up again as shingles. I think there's a vaccine for shingles; I know there's one now for chickenpox. Shingles hits older people (Boomers!!) more than younger age groups. I wonder if those who've had the vaccine against chickenpox can still get shingles? I suppose they could if the vaccine is a live virus rather than a dead one.

Here's why I mentioned it: I know older folks' get Shingles and that's caused by having had chickenpox when a child. But I did not know older people could get chickenpox. That's a new concept to me. Thought it'd be worth exploring just in case any of us run
across the problem. Here's hoping that none of us do!!!

An adult who has never has chickenpox can catch the virus.Often in an adult it is more severe.I had mumps in my fifties..

Had my tonsils out at age 29. That isn't a picnic, either.

And how'd I get from chickenpox to tonsils, haven't a clue. LOL...